Do you still write checks at local stores/shops?

Oct 30, 2011 6:04 AM

Do your local stores accept checks (without club membership)? After seveal years in the military and college on the west coast where checks are almost a taboo, I was surprised to find that merchants in the Midwest town we moved to still accept checks and will even allow you to cash a check at their store. Is this just a Midwest thing or is it common in other parts of the US?

Top Answers

I do not write checks in fear of being stabbed walking out to my car by another customer who was enraged for being held up for so long. However they do accept checks in smaller towns generally, no matter if it is a large or small store.

I do not write checks in fear of being stabbed walking out to my car by another customer who was enraged for being held up for so long. However they do accept checks in smaller towns generally, no matter if it is a large or small store.

The last time I wrote a check at a grocery store, the cashier ran it as an electronic check, and then handed it back to me. That was about 2 years ago or maybe more. Since then, I use a credit or debit card. I rarely write any checks now - some donations, a couple of bills and the rest online banking.

@funkadelic78: For a lot of people, using a debit card is an invitation to screw up their accounts and accrue NSF charges. Surprising as it may sound, there are a lot of people for whom keeping track of their funds is difficult and risky.

I do write checks, now and then, but only to local businesses, where I know them. I use my debit card at the grocery store, and rarely anywhere else. I use credit cards, or cash, for most things.

I write a few checks each month (including four or five for local bills, like electricity and ISP), but pay almost all bills from my checking account online (and I NEVER permit anyone to take money from my account, automatically, since I know how easily that can go wrong).

I can remember my mother writing counter checks at the grocery store, where they'd just ask where she banked, and then pull out a check for that bank. She's write her name and address on the top, the amount, and then sign it. Yep, no account number necessary. That was a VERY long time ago.

I imagine that checks will almost entirely disappear in another few years. I'm okay with that (and I'm way over 50).

Online shopping by credit card (which is paid off every month, so no interest charges and I get cash-back bonuses each January) and most brick-and-mortar store purchases with a debit card. Bills paid (mostly) on-line at my (small regional) bank's web site. I rarely write checks, and only to pay those people/businesses that don't take debit cards or do bank transfers.

Since I've also gotten rid of junk mail catalogs ( www.catalogchoice.org ) and paper magazines and newspapers in favor of electronic versions, I'm not much help in keeping USPS in business. And I'm past 60.

The only checks that I write are for interpersonal transactions, or to pay my rent because my complex doesn't accept credit. I miss my old complex, where I could rack up the rewards points and score gift cards!

i think walmart still takes checks, but they scan them as electronic checks and hand them back to you, like someone mentioned already.
i rarely write checks anymore, i use my debit for everything. then major purchases like car repair and medical/dental i use my credit card.
my building requires paper checks though, for ordering a maintenance service or scheduling the freight elevator, moving in or out. all those have fees or deposits and they take only checks

my condo fees charge me $2 to pay online. so every month i curse them and tell myself i'll mail a paper check to them. then i end up paying online and paying the $2 extra..... *sigh*

I use credit cards that give me "points" for almost all purchases, including groceries.
I use cash to pay for lunch and most meals away from home, unless I'm buying lunch for several people, then use credit cards.
I use checks to pay the credit card balances at the end of the month, and for my rent and utilities payments.

Okay, this is probably insensitive, politically incorrect, or what-have-you, but I hate being behind someone in a cashier's line who writes a check. Around here, at any rate, they have to show an ID, the cashier has to write their license number on the check, and then put it through the validation thingie to stamp it. Drives me bonkers. (Of course, that's why I shop online as much as possible, I do tend to get mighty impatient in checkout lines. I'm not rude about it though, honest! Just silently seethe.)

I write maybe 3 checks a year, and don't normally carry my checkbook. Though it bit me yesterday when I went to pick up a couch I had reupholstered. It was $400 and I assumed (incorrectly) that they would take credit cards. Or at least a debit card. Nope. He wanted cash or check. I actually followed him over to the credit union so I could withdraw the cash to pay him (couch was already loaded).

Didn't occur to me that a business would work on only cash and checks. Guess I was wrong.

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